In 2011, San Diego Food Bloggers banded together to participate in the Great American Bake Sale to raise money for Share Our Strength, a 501(c)(3) charity with the goal of creating an accessible way for people to get involved in ending childhood hunger. Last year’s San Diego Food Bloggers Bake Sale had 32 local bakers participating and raised $1750 for Share Our Strength. This year’s goal is $2500, so plan to come out this weekend, buy some fabulous locally produced baked goods, and join in the fight against childhood hunger along the way!

Our sale will be on Saturday, April 28, 2012 from 10am – 2pm and will be hosted again this year at Great News! Discount Cookware and Cooking School in Pacific Beach. You can find more details on the SDFB Bake Sale site, as well as a menu of goodies from bloggers that were actually on the ball enough to decide ahead of time. And yes, although I have only posted four times in the last 8 months, San Diego Food Bloggers have been kind enough to let me tag along and participate anyway, so there will be no shortage ofboozy cakes and chocolate peanut butter goodnesson the bake sale tables!

Since it’s currently eleventy-billion degrees in San Diego, no sane person would be gleefully contemplating turning on the oven and spending a day basking in cookie-fueled heat. Clearly I have the crazy, because the next few days look like they’re going to be a baking marathon and I couldn’t be more excited!

Two projects I’m tackling are treats to pack up and send on a guys get-away weekend, and making another round of gluten-free vegan cupcakes.

Gourgeous, right? Thinking that they will be the perfect send-along treat. Maybe I’ll mix things up and make a few with Reese’s Pieces for my fellow peanut butter fiends. Can’t wait!

As for the cupcakes, I love making things for my friends with dietary restrictions. Sure, it’s easy to whip up a batch of flour-butter-egg goodies, but a little extra time and effort can often yield a batch of deliciousness that’s all the more meaningful to someone seldom able to indulge in treats. I’ve been playing around with some recipes and resources to make gluten-free, vegan cupcakes for a special occasion. My first batch yielded these dark chocolate cupcakes with chocolate filling, topped with “butterscotch” mousse, caramelized sugar, and smoked sea salt.

The flavor was great, but (as usual), I didn’t write much down so need to re-make it a few times to check quantities and technique for the big event. And I always figure that, as long as I’m making another batch, I might as well tinker with it a bit. I originally used a GF mix (with some tweaking) for the cake, but I’ve been eyeing this slightly more complex chocolate cupcake recipe fromGluten Free Girl. So dark. So chocolate-y.